Meet Your New Neighbors

"We want to get away from the big city," is the reason we hear most often from new Tehachapi residents and Michael and Lea Banton are no different. They had moved to Santa Clarita 13 years ago from the San Fernando Valley thinking they were moving to the country. Now both retired, they finally chose Bear Valley Springs as their retirement home. Michael said the move here was actually a compromise. He wanted to move to Arizona or Nevada but Lea didn't want to be that far from their kids, Sean and Christopher, who still live in Santa Clarita. They moved into their new home right after Christmas, even though their Santa Clarita home had not yet sold.

Michael was born in Maine and came to California in 1977. He has a long history in law enforcement beginning with his assignment as a prison guard in the Air Force. He said that over the years he has worked as a police officer, for the TSA and, for a time, in celebrity security covering such notables as Carrie Fisher and Mohammed Ali. Michael refers to himself as a jack-of-all-trades.

Lea is a retired Registered Nurse. She was born in the Philippines. She came to the United States in 1975 following the emigration of her parents and sister. She worked for 46 years as a registered nurse and 42 of those years as a cardiac intensive care nurse at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Lea met Michael 30 years ago in Los Angeles.

Now that they are settling into their new home, they are looking forward to getting a chance to pursue the activities they love like hiking or just going for a long walk. However, as long as the weather is cold, they will have to be satisfied with keeping the company of their two cats, Selene and Peter Quell. Michael said that to him, being from Maine, Tehachapi is just cool; but to Lea, Tehachapi is freezing. Given the weather over the last month, I am inclined to agree with her.

A big "Welcome to Tehachapi" to Michael and Lea.

It has taken a few months for Cindy Jaske to make her move to her new home in Tehachapi from Pine Mountain Club. In fact, she still has her home there, although she now spends more time here than there. Although the weather may be part of that, it is primarily the fact that her daughter Megan and her husband moved here about a year ago. In fact, that is what prompted her to buy a home here in the first place. When her husband of 32 years passed away last year, she knew she wanted to be closer to her family. They had lived in Pine Mountain Club for three years and had planned for it to be their retirement home.

Cindy is 100 percent Californian being born in Monterey Park in Los Angeles County. She has one brother who now lives in Texas. Before moving to Pine Mountain Club, Cindy and her husband lived in Taft for 25 years where he worked as a heavy equipment operator. Cindy said that she worked as a teacher for the Taft City School District for 13 years. Before that she had worked for the district as a substitute teacher. She taught primarily first through third grade. Her daughter Megan is also a teacher. She teaches seventh grade at Cato School in northeast Bakersfield and makes the long roundtrip commute daily.

Cindy said she has always liked to read but is now trying to learn how to take care of plants. Her three cats, Stanlee, Pugslie and Sara are not much help in that regard. She is also most likely going to have to learn about horses as Megan has two of them and they live in the same neighborhood.

Welcome to Tehachapi Cindy. We are delighted that you and the Bantons chose Tehachapi as your new home.

If you have moved to the Greater Tehachapi Area within the last six months and would like to know more about your new community, call (661) 822-8188. We will be happy to make an appointment for a hostess to come by and give you lots of helpful information, some valuable coupons, gifts and much more. Many families and individuals who come to the area are pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge they gather about their new home. Publishing your welcome article is completely voluntary and is not a requirement of being welcomed.